It is such an honor to be with you all today. Thank you for having me.

So…in preparing for today’s talk, I kept on thinking about what I was going to talk about. I had many topics, but nothing felt as if it was the right topic or the right message for today. I ended up going into a spiritual facebook group that I am part of and asked outright, what is everyone struggling with these days as I am looking for topics for a talk I am giving on the weekend and I have not yet gotten the download (that probably should have read, I have not yet had time to receive the download, but we will get to that). One of the participants said “I am having the same struggles you are having, what do we do if the downloads don’t come?”

What a perfect discussion topic.

Not once had I even realized that not having a topic would become the topic. I missed the boat all together. My sign was there, I just didn’t notice it, my topic was right in front of me but I didn’t even realize it.

So….what do we do if the downloads or the messages don’t come? Is this even a thing? Or are downloads always there waiting for us to realize it. That is the question.

And this one topic funnels into a lot of different sub-topics, such as Faith, Time, Self Care, Breath, Meditation and Exercise.

Before we start with any of those, let’s first look at a deeper understanding of what happens when we are stressed (and for today, I am using the term stress very loosely, it can include being extremely agitated or emotional (including any emotions) or just living a busy life, it doesn’t have to be chaotic. Stress itself can come in thoughts, behaviors, emotions, imagination and even memories. It can come suddenly or it can build over time where we barely even recognize we or our body and mind are stressed out. It often becomes our new normal. When we are stressed our nervous system becomes hyper-aroused and actually shuts down portions of our brain. The portions that get shut down are the portions that we use to get downloads and messages and to get into the ethers.

My belief is (and I do not know if it is true but it makes sense to me), the front portion of our brain is the newest part of our brain evolutionary wise and this is the part that we are just nowlearning how to use. We use it when we are practicing mindfulness and meditation and it would make sense that it is the part of our brain or ourselves that has access to the ethers. Since we are learning to use this part of our brain more and more, it becomes easier for us to access the ethers and combined with the thinning veil anyone can tap into Spirit, or maybe the veil feels as if it is thinning because of our practice and greater knowledge in using this part of our brain.

Anyway, just an idea. But I digress.
The first concept that becomes extremely important in the ability to receive downloads becomes Faith. The greater our faith with Spirit and the Universe, the greater we will trust that the downloads that we are asking for are always around us. We need to believe however that Spirit is on our side and helping us through thick and thin, no matter how dire circumstances get. We often don’t see full pictures and it is often not until years later that we can start to make sense of circumstances in our lives. When we have faith that the messages are always there and not doubt that they are there when we “can’t” find them, it often becomes easier to locate them.

The more we understand that the messages are always there, we are just so busy in our own lives, in our own worlds, in our own minds that we often completely miss the messages the world is trying to send to us. We know the world is always here to help us. But when we are busy we got lost in our regularly programmed schedule, those thoughts and beliefs that have been programmed into our brains since we were born into this world and those beliefs usually serve to disempower us, those beliefs that tell us the world does not have our backs and we start doubting and we start losing our faith that we have worked so hard to build up when we start learning how to empower ourselves.

I used to have a teacher who always said “if you show up, Spirit will show up.” And it has always been true. Whether it is in message services or making sense of situations, everything I need is always there. Even when things are perceived to go “wrong” there is always a reason and a learning and healing opportunity that can touch us to our core.

One of the key things we don’t do is give ourselves time and space to actually locate the download. We keep our bodies in a low grade stress response and often don’t allow the time to calm down and listen to what the world is trying to tell us. It’s not that the world fails us, maybe it is that we fail the world.

If Love is the highest vibration and we receive all messages, downloads and healings through love then what happens if we are not loving ourselves and taking care of ourselves to the fullest? The world cannot love us if we do not love ourselves, the world can not take care of us if we are not taking care of ourselves, the world cannot listen to us if we are not listening to ourselves and the world can send message after message but if we are stuck in that stress response, chances are, we will not be able to hear it. The messages and downloads are always around us, waiting for us to pick them up. Sometimes our brain will overlook a message because we may get scared or may not want to hear it, but most of the time when we look back, the message was there if only we listened.

There is a reason why day signs are some of the first signs we see as our spiritual journey starts. They are outward, they are objective, they are not subjective. Day signs are the number sequences such as 1111 or 1212 or 999 or anything that is symbolic or meaningful to you. Your favourite number is usually where the Universe starts because it knows that it will get your attention and is easy to see. Animals are also often used as day signs, passages in books, books falling open to certain pages. Day signs are signs that are meaningful to you and grab your attention in daily life.

I remember when my journey first started, I had just come back from a walk and had had quite a few messages delivered to me on my walk. At that point I was not very trusting of the world since, in my opinion, the world had asked me to take the biggest leap by collapsing what I knew as my life and then asked me to learn how to trust at that point.

I remember the conversations I would have, “Universe, you have to give me one thing that I can hold onto because I don’t know why I should trust you at this point.” Well, on that particular day after many downloads and this conversation with me begging for something to hold onto, something tangible that I couldn’t ignore, I heard that I would be seeing the number 1212. That is my number after all. As I walked in my door and headed upstairs, I looked at the clock and noticed it was 12:11, so I knew by the time I got upstairs to my computer, it would inevitably be 12:12. I walked upstairs saying to the Big U, “Uh Uh, no way, this one is way too easy for you. I will look at the clock and you will show me 12:12 and I don’t accept it. I need something more than that.” After all, I had been seeing 12:12 on the clock non stop for the past few months and it seemed as if nothing was getting better, in fact it felt as if everything was only getting worse.

I walked upstairs and sure enough turned on my computer to see 12:12 and then the strangest thing happened, or maybe we can insert the word magical instead of strange, after all, our language truly impacts our experiences and beliefs. It truly was magical. My screen fickered and somehow my files of pictures opened and landed on one picture in particular. Beside that picture was the time stamp 12:12. To this day, I do not even know how that happened. Ok, maybe I do. Spirit is always with us. Always talking to us. Always giving us downloads if we would only listen.

We spend most of our days running around like a chicken with our heads cut off. When we are not running or possibly as we are running, we are on our phones answering emails, checking social media, listening to messages or even talking on the phone. Or maybe we are playing games to “relax” us. Games aren’t meant to relax, they are meant to keep you in a hyper-aroused state so you continue playing. In fact your phones were designed to keep your attention on them as much as possible. A lot of science went into that, which means that they keep you in a low grade stress state so you always have to have them beside you, so you are constantly checking them, so they are continually grabbing your attention. We live in the taking of pictures which become the past as soon as they are taken, instead of living in our present moment. Too consumed to post proof of our fabulous lives on social media and losing out on the experience that the moment is trying to present us with.

And then we get into bed to go to sleep and start again the next day.

We do not create the time or space to actually receive from the Universe and then we complain that the universe is not responding to us or we are feeling confused and overwhelmed. In fact, when our nervous systems become so hyper aroused, it becomes more difficult to ground ourselves so that we can actually bring heaven to earth.

In fact, maybe those times where we can’t find the signs, is actually a sign that life is too busy and the focus needs to be on slowing things down. The big question becomes, how do we actually do that? How do we actually receive the messages from the universe you may ask? This is where our tools are of immense importance. A daily meditation and prayer practice is key along with exercise.

Why was I not receiving the download for my topic for today? Because I had no time. My days were jam packed and I was running around. By the time evening hit, I was exhausted. I know I am no good to myself or others if I am not exercising, meditating and praying. In fact, my friends know me enough that if they hear I am overwhelmed or not doing well, the first question they will ask me (which is the exact same question, I ask my clients when they say the same thing) is when was the last time you exercised, meditated or prayed? When was the last time you slowed down to calm the nervous system enough to actually listen to the messages you are asking for, to actually notice them?

The answer is always the same. A sheepish “oh yah”. This needs to be the first priority on our list, not the last. It should also be noted that when things fall apart, we tend to start using our tools consistently and when things start feeling better, we drop them. Consistency is key here.

And this doesn’t happen in 10 minutes, no. It happens over a consistent practice. The world is constantly bombarding you with things to stimulate your nervous system – body, mind and soul, 24/7. You owe it to yourself to carve out at least 20 minutes a day (if you can’t do it daily, then at least 3 times a week) to calm that system down. It is the consistency that creates a new baseline for you and this is what allows us to stop reacting and start experiencing.

It is often said that prayer is when we talk to Spirit and meditation is when Spirit talks to you. So tell me, how often do you create the time in your daily life to sit, converse and love Spirit and Yourself?